Rocket Lab, the aerospace manufacturer and small satellite launcher of Huntington Beach, launched its eighth Electron space mission late last month, taking another step toward its goal of vehicle reusability and more frequent missions.
The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1, the company’s private launch facility on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula on Aug. 20, blasting four satellites into orbit.
It brings to 39 the number of satellites the company has sent into outer space.
Chief Executive Peter Beck told the Business Journal the launch shows “a team at the top of their game in the small satellite launch industry.”
He pointed out the company, which has raised nearly $290 million to date, has achieved “100% mission success.”
Hands Free
The mission, named “Look Ma, No Hands,” included a satellite for maritime surveillance for a French company called Unseenlabs.
The payload also included two experimental satellites for the U.S. Air Force Space Command that are designed to test propulsion, power and communications for potential applications on future spacecraft.
It was the company’s fourth launch this year.
“This mission was also another exciting step towards our plans to recover and reuse Electron’s first stage in future missions,” said Beck, who hails from New Zealand. The company moved headquarters to Surf City in 2017. Along with Mahia Peninsula, it also has a launch site on Wallops Island, Va.
“The team is eagerly analyzing the data as we work towards reusability.”
Helicopter Capture
The Business Journal reported early last month that Rocket Lab presented a new plan to retrieve and refly the first stage of its Electron launch rocket, eventually capturing the vehicle by helicopter in midair.
The plans will eliminate the need to build a new first stage for every mission, and will progress in two phases.
The first phase will see Rocket Lab attempt to recover a full Electron first stage from the ocean downrange of Launch Complex 1 and have it shipped back to Rocket Lab’s production complex for refurbishment, the aerospace manufacturer said.
The second phase will ultimately see Electron’s first stage captured midair by helicopter, before the stage is transported back to Launch Complex 1 for refurbishment and relaunch.
The “Look Ma, No Hands” launch carried instrumentation to aid the development of those plans.
2021 Goals
Founded in 2006, the company said the goal is to increase launches to once a week possibly as early as 2021. Rocket Lab said it plans to begin first-stage recovery attempts in the coming year.
The price per Rocket Lab launch starts around $7.5 million; at the one-launch per week goal that would equate to nearly $400 million in revenue for the company on an annual basis—more than the company has raised in funding the past few years.
Rocket Lab’s next mission has yet to be announced, but is scheduled for liftoff from Launch Complex 1 in the coming weeks, the company said. Its first orbital launch took place last year in January.
